The second semifinal in the women's table tennis team event saw powerhouse China take on Singapore. The paddlers from China have been dominant so far posting easy victories while Singapore was made to work hard in their quarterfinal match.
China, looking to progress to their third consecutive Olympics final, started off the match with a bang. As the team won both their singles match, there was no way back for Singapore as China went on to record a resounding 3-0 victory to advance to the gold medal match where they will take on Germany.
China takes the lead with comfortable win
Feng Tianwei started proceedings going up against Li Xiaoxia in the first singles match. It was a close contest before Li took a 6-4 lead. However, a couple of errors then saw Feng win four points in a row to claim an 8-6 lead. Feng then started to make errors of her own was soon facing game points at 8-10. A swift attack and a good serve saw the Singaporean level back to 10-10. Li kept her cool though and eventually closed out the game on her third game point for 12-10.
The second game proceeded in similar fashion with both players keeping in touch before Feng came back to take an 8-6 lead. Like in the first game, she again lost the lead to Li who was serving well. Only this time, the Chinese was able to convert her game point at 10-8 to take a two-game lead.
There was little to separate the two but it was Li emerging stronger as the game progressed. Li’s sumptuous backhand set up a brilliant match point at 10-9 and she closed out the opening match 3-0.
China loses a game but powers their way to a 2-0 lead
Zhou Yihan began the second match for Singapore and went up against the singles gold medallist, Ding Ning. It was Zhou who took a comfortable 5-2 lead at the start but the Singaporean was unable to sustain as Ding eventually powered through with her attacks to take the first game .
The 22-yer-old became more aggressive in the second looking to make the first move to attack putting Ding on the backfoot. She soon chalked up an 8- 5 lead but was making errors allowing Ding to come back and the Singaporean took a timeout. Nonetheless, it was Ding who took over the lead for 9-8. However, a superb serve and an aggressive shot from Zhou allowed her to draw the match level.
The 32nd ranked Singaporean was able to match the Chinese in the rallies but Ding with some exceptional serving stepped it up to take a two games to one lead. And in the fourth, the Chinese took control and wasted no time racking up a 6-1 lead. Ding cruised to victory to give China a 2-0 lead in the tie.
China overwhelms Singapore to claim victory in the doubles
The third match saw Zhou teaming up with Yu Mengyu while Liu Shiwen came on for China joined by Ding. The Singapore duo kept in touch for 3-3 in the opener but from there on it was all China pulling away with their snappy quick shots and outhitting the Singaporean pair. And in minutes the opening game went the way of Liu and Ding.
The Chinese pair were relentless with their attacks barely giving room for the Singaporeans to breathe as they dominated the second game winning 11-1. Time was running out for Yu and Zhou but they stayed with the Chinese in the do-or-die third game securing a momentary lead at 5-4.
As expected China regained the lead soon after and a timeout called while trailing 5-8 helped the Singapore duo to climb back to 8-9. The Chinese pair then had a timeout of their own looking to stop the momentum shift. And it worked to their advantage, as China went on to seal the win to progress to their third consecutive final.